Conservative Views

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

I don't normally reproduce other's work here, but this topic is such a scary proposition, I feel it needs to get as much exposure as possible.

If you care about the United States, please visit Chuck Baldwin's web site.--------------------------------------Act Now To Reject Con ConBy Chuck BaldwinDecember 16, 2008

My good friend, Tom DeWeese, chairman of the American Policy Center, recently issued an urgent alert regarding a revived effort to assemble a modern Constitutional Convention. Mind you, the United States has not assembled such a Convention since 1787, when a Constitutional Convention replaced the Articles of Confederation with the U.S. Constitution. Fortunately, the delegates to the Con Con of 1787 were composed of freedom-loving patriots who had just fought a bloody war for independence and were in no mind to reenact tyranny upon the land they had just fought to liberate. However, can one imagine what would happen if the current bunch of politically correct leftists in Washington, D.C., were to be granted the power to rewrite our Constitution? It would be the end of the United States of America, and that is no hyperbole.

The modern Con Con effort began back in the 1970s. Since then, 32 states have issued the call. The total number of states that are required to enact the Con Con is 34. Simple math reveals that we are only two states short of this disaster. As word of this potential calamity began to surface, the effort stalled with the total states issuing the call stuck at 32. With the election of Barack Obama, however, supporters of a Con Con have been emboldened and are now trying to resurrect the momentum. The state that is currently in the crosshairs appears to be Ohio.

States that have already approved a Con Con include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. A few of these states have since seen the error of their ways and have voted to rescind their approvals. This fact, alone, should be enough to kill the push for another Con Con, but don't expect the powers that be to see it that way. Therefore, it seems that if Ohio approves the Con Con, only one more state would be required, and upon the call of that 34th state, a Con Con would be seated. And, no doubt, state number 34 is already sitting quietly, but excitedly, in the wings, ready to act with "lightning speed" to seal the deal.

Lest anyone take this lightly or think that a Constitutional Convention is no big deal, DeWeese properly warned, "In truth no restrictive language from any state can legally limit the scope or outcome of a [Constitutional] Convention! Once a Convention is called Congress determines how the delegates to the Convention are chosen. Once chosen, those Convention delegates possess more power than the U.S. Congress itself."

DeWeese is right. If called, a modern Constitutional Convention could declare the U.S. Constitution to be null and void, and could completely rewrite the document. For example, former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger once declared, "There is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention. The Convention could make its own rules and set its own agenda."

Given the fact that Washington, D.C., is comprised mostly of Big-Government liberals and neocons, it is almost certain that the founders' Constitution--which was founded on the principles of Natural Law that protects individual liberty--would be replaced with some sort of "collective rights" document protecting an ambiguous "common good." At that point, there is no more United States of America. There would be no more Bill of Rights protecting individuals from governmental abuse and overreach. Furthermore, the principles of Natural Law would be forever removed as a basis of all our nation's laws and statutes. The nation that had been bequeathed to us by our forebears would be gone forever.

Yes, it is that bad, and, yes, it is that close to happening!

In the short term, every freedom-loving American must do everything they can RIGHT NOW to prevent this from happening. Since the state of Ohio is currently in the crosshairs, it would behoove us to contact every person we know in Ohio and do whatever it takes to motivate them to be sure to let their Ohio legislators know how dangerous this is. Residents and citizens of Ohio need to make sure the Ohio legislature rejects the call for a Constitutional Convention.

By the same token, it would be wise for all of us who live in states that have not yet ratified the call for a Con Con to contact our state legislators to make sure that they understand the issue, and that they will do everything in their power to resist any attempt to call for a Constitutional Convention. For more information on the status of a new Con Con and how to fight it, go to the American Policy Center web site at http://www.americanpolicy.org:80/sledgehammer/victory.htm

In the longer term, there is another question that must be addressed. What will we do if and when a modern Constitutional Convention is called and our U.S. Constitution is declared null and void, with a completely new constitution enacted? Which states will reject the new constitution? Which states will declare their independence from any such new union?

Or, will they all surrender their state constitutions and go along with this Twenty-First Century New World Order--a New World Order that will doubtless incorporate some form of North American Community or Union?

It might be a very good idea to immediately begin identifying those states that would unequivocally reject any new union, and would be willing to declare their independence from whatever government would evolve from a modern Constitutional Convention. Yes, I am saying it: we may need to resurrect the original Thirteen Colonies, except they would probably not number thirteen, and, in all likelihood, they would not be located on the East Coast.

I am convinced that there are still millions of Americans who are sick and tired of surrendering their liberties to Big-Government sycophants in both the Democrat and Republican parties, and that if a Constitutional Convention is called--and our U.S. Constitution is wiped away or rewritten--are ready and willing to declare their independence all over again. So, I issue the call: where are the new Thirteen Colonies?

We better start looking now, because there will come a point when the time for looking for good ground is over and the time to stand our ground will be upon us.

*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link: http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/donate.php (c) Chuck Baldwin

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Little Johnny lived on a fairly busy street. On the first day of summer, Johnny decided to open a lemonade stand outside his house. The only problem was that Johnny didn’t have the $5.00 to purchase the lemonade mix and cups. Steven, an older friend of Johnny from down the street said, “I’ll lend you the $5.00, but at the end of the week I want $7.50 back”. Johnny was confident that he could sell at least $10.00 worth of lemonade so he accepted the deal.

At the end of the week, Johnny had made $15.00! He paid Steven the promised $7.50 and spent another $5.00 on more lemonade and cups. All in all Johnny made $2.50 profit!

Johnny then thought about selling cookies along with his lemonade, but the cookies would cost him another $5.00. He went back to his friend Steven and ask him for another loan. Steven recognized that Johnny had the potential to make a good amount of money over the summer and he wanted a way to make some too. He made Johnny a different offer. This time, Steven said he’d give Johnny the $5.00 but rather than paying him back $7.50, Steven wanted $0.10 of every dollar Johnny made at his stand. Johnny thought this would be a good deal so he agreed. Now at the end of every week, Johnny would count his earnings and give Steven 10%.

After awhile, Johnny noticed that a lot of people walked across the corner down the street via a route that bypassed his lemonade stand. He didn’t want to give up his profitable stand by his house so he talked to sally who lived on that corner. He offered Sally $0.10 an hour to sell his lemonade and cookies outside her house.

A few days later, some kids from other streets came to Johnny and asked if they could sell his lemonade and cookies outside their houses for $0.10 per hour too. Johnny asked Steven for another $10.00 in order to purchase more lemonade and cookies in exchange for $0.20 of every profit dollar. By the end of the month, Johnny had 6 lemonade stands all doing a robust business. The kids running the stands were making money, Steven was making money, the grocery store was selling more lemonade and cookies than they had in years, and the local candy store was doing a great business with all the new kindergarten customers with money they made selling lemonade for Johnny.

One day, Sally’s mom came to Johnny and told him that she didn’t want Sally to have all that money because she didn’t trust that Sally would save any of it. Sally’s mom told Johnny that rather than giving Sally the whole $0.10 per hour, he was to give her only half and give her the other half. It wasn’t long before the other parents told Johnny to do the same thing. Suddenly all the kids working for Johnny only had half of the spending money they became accustom too. The went to Johnny as a group and demanded that he started giving them a full 10 cents again. Johnny was afraid that the parents would forbid them from working so he agreed. In order to cover this increase though, Johnny had to raise the price of his lemonade and cookies. Fortunately, most of his customer’s were still willing to pay the extra amount.

As the summer got hotter, a lot of the parents began to worry about their kids sitting at the tables in the hot sun. They went to Johnny and told him that he needed to install umbrellas at each table to protect them. Johnny was forced to spend all the profit he had made so far for the umbrellas. While installing the umbrella at Sally’s table, Sally’s mom came out to talk with Johnny

It seems that there was a young boy in the neighborhood that had to stay home all summer long to watch his younger brother while his mom worked. She felt really sorry for this boy and felt that it was unfair that Johnny was able to make a lot of money in the neighborhood but this boy could not. He told Johnny that in order to be fair, Johnny had to give this boy free lemonade and cookies every day otherwise she wouldn’t let Sally work for him. It didn’t take but a few days before other mothers came to Johnny with names of other ‘less fortunate’ children in the neighborhood that Johnny would have to give lemonade and cookies to or else their kids would not be allowed to work for Johnny. These free items cost Johnny so much that once again he had to raise the price for his lemonade and cookies. This time, about 10% of his regular customer’s stopped buying from him.

Just as the summer was half over, Freddie’s mother came to Johnny to say she was concerned about how Freddie would feel after the summer was over and he wasn’t able to keep making money. In order to keep Freddie from becoming depressed in the fall, Freddie’s mother told Johnny that he had to give her 1 cent per hour on top of what he paid Freddie so that she could give Freddie some extra spending money during the months that the lemonade stands were closed. Johnny knew by this time that the other parents would insist that their children received the same benefit in order to keep things fair. He also knew that they would make him give even more free cookies to those children who’s mom’s had to work all the time so they would have snacks during the winter months.

Now Johnny faced a real problem. All of these extra costs to keep the parents happy had cut into his profits to the point that he was barely making any spending money himself. If he raised the prices again, he risked loosing more customers than the extra charges would bring in. His investor, Steven, was already getting angry that the profits were down which meant he got less and less each week too. Johnny was not able to sleep very well at night because of all these problems. Then one day he sold all of his lemonade and didn’t have enough money to buy more. He went to the store manager and explained the situation. The store manager was concerned too because he was making a lot more money selling the lemonade to Johnny. He agreed to give Johnny some lemonade ‘on credit’, with the understanding that Johnny would pay him back in full by the end of the week.

Johnny figured out that there was more profit in the cookies than the lemonade, so he started to offer a free lemonade refill to everyone who bought two or more cookies. This was a smart move as Johnny started to sell more cookies which meant more profits. At the end of the week he was able to pay the store manager back and still have enough money left to purchase the lemonade and cookies he needed for the next week. Johnny slept well that night for the first time in weeks.

The next Monday however, more problems started. A city official stopped by Johnny’s stand and told him that a number of neighbors were complaining about the signs Johnny had posted to promote his business. He put these signs up on other streets so people who don’t normally walk down his street would know that they could buy his cookies and lemonade. The city official told him that these signs had to be removed or they would fine him $100.00. He really had no choice so he removed the signs and sure enough, there were fewer customers that week and ever week thereafter.

As the summer started drawing to and end, Johnny started to count up all the profits and expenses from his lemonade stand. Even though he worked nearly 60 hours a week every week of the summer, he managed to make a $25.00 profit. As he was thinking of what he’d do with his money, his father came into the room and reminded him that every business was required to pay a fee to the city so the city could provide trash pickup, fire services, police protection, and street repairs. Johnny understood the necessity for these services so he gave his father $5.00 to send to the city.

The next spring, Johnny noticed a new kid on the block who was starting a lawn mowing service. Johnny felt sorry for the boy knowing what he was in for. But Johnny was smarter now. He learned how the ‘system’ worked. Right after school, Johnny went down to city hall. He asked to speak to the man who told him to remove his signs the summer before. The big man told Johnny to take a seat and tell him what was on his mind.

Johnny explained that he was interested in starting a different business this summer, he wanted to mow lawns around his neighborhood. The only problem was that someone else was doing the same thing. Johnny went on to explain that he would only be able to make money if he charged less that the other kid. That boy would probably then lower his fee too and before you knew it, neither boy would be mowing lawns because there wouldn’t be any profit in it. This would cause ‘residential blight’ because most of the dad’s were too tired after work to mow their own lawns and it could be dangerous for those older people to push a mower around in the heat of summer.

The city official seemed to understand the crisis but wasn’t really sure how to solve the problem. That is when Johnny gave the man the perfect solution. If Johnny didn’t go into the lawn mowing business, then the other boy wouldn’t need to lower his price and there would be no price war to begin with! Of course it wouldn’t be fare to Johnny to not be able to earn an income this summer so he proposed that the city put a $3.00 per lawn tax on all lawn mowing services. Then the city could give Johnny $2.00 per lawn to not mow anything thereby not causing a price war that would end up with no lawn mowers in town. The city would make $1.00 per lawn as a fee for administering the lawn tax. The voters would be happy because there would be a lawn mowing service in town, the new boy would be happy because he wouldn’t have competition and could pass the $3.00 tax on to his customer, the city would be happy because they would get extra revenues without having to do a lot of work, and Johnny would be fairly compensated for not starting a business that would prevent the certain ‘urban blight crisis’.

So Johnny ended up making a nice sum of money that year. The town grocer had to fire one of the working moms though, because there wasn't the extra income from selling so much lemonade; the kids in the neighborhood didn't have that extra spending money so the candy store closed down; the poor children who had to stay home and watch their younger siblings didn't get a single snack that summer; and the adults who used to look forward to a refreshing lemonade and cookie after work, had to go without.

But the good news is that everyone of the kindergartener's in this story learned the cruel facts of life. Hopefully, when they get old enough to lead, they'll remember that they lost everything that second summer because some people thought it was wise to "tax the rich" and redistribute the wealth to the poor by force.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

When you look at dictatorships and some of the great nations that the world has seen, from the Roman Empire through the current century, a few common threads flow through each.

The first step is the removal of guns and other weapons that could be used for self defence.

Step two is taking control of the media; the press, television, radio, etc.

Finally, to assure long term commitment to the leadership, the new rulers take over the educational system. A government can change the perceptions and belief systems of an entire nation if it can control the educational system long enough.

Sadly, this has happened in America. If you look at the curriculum of the modern government school, one glaring omission is the in-depth study our our US Constitution. Just ask any kid who graduated from a government high-school to tell you what they know about the Constitution and you normally get nothing more than "Its a document to help us create laws". A 'document', just like any other. Its a list of suggestions, a "living, breathing" piece of Americana that sometimes gets in the way of real socialital change.

Unfortunately, this is how many people perceive the Constitution, sadder still, barely anyone under the age of 50 has ever actually read the document that our country was founded on.

Let's pause for a moment though, and look at what rights the Constitution actually provides to our federal lawmakers, shall we?

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof

Now think about all the laws our elected officials have placed on the populace. They prevent us from drilling for natural resources on private and public lands. They force free enterprises to raise production costs to reach artificial standards, such as miles per-gallon. They impose regulation upon regulation telling people what they can and can't do with their own private property. They give billions of dollars to people to NOT plant certain crops. The dole out funds for local building projects, and worse of all, they have taken control of the educational system in America.

Where in the Constitution do they get the right to do any of these things? Look at it yourself. Do you see anyplace that the founding fathers of our nation envisioned the central government to tell you how to use, or not use, your own property? Do you see anything in the rights granted to the legislature to allow them to set minimum standards on manufactured goods? Do you see anything in the Constitution that allows the FEDERAL government to dictate how and what to teach our children?

Its time to put an end to this tyranny. Its time to put an end to unconstitutional law making. Its time to take back the country and marginalize the federal government. The big government monopoly should be dismantled and the power given back to the states where our founding fathers intended it to be.

We have an election cycle this year. We have an opportunity to send a message to the people of this nation that we firmly believe in the words, and meaning of our Constitution. Who is going to carry this message forward? hillary? obamma? mccain? These are the same people who took away state rights to begin with. Its time for a change alright, but not simply a change of color or clothing. Its time to rid the nation of the monopoly of the federal government. Its time for a new political party, one who's dedicated to the ideals given us by the blood of our forefathers and all who have fought for the principles of the US Constitution.

Welcome

Right of Rush? Well, probably not, but the title is an excellent statement that tells you instantly where I stand on the political spectrum. That's how I describe myself: A True Reagan Conservative. There are lots and lots of Republicans these days, but few in public office that are true Conservatives in the ways of President Reagan. To use his own words, I am getting closer and closer to proclaiming: "I did not leave the republican party, the republican party left me". I am sure President Reagan would feel that way today.